Exercise calories.... do you eat them?

JaenaM

Well, do ya?

hush7hush

No.

Sometimes I will exercise more to burn off when I've gone over. But I don't intentionally eat them.

judkinsjenny

Nope. Not usually. It depends on how many I burned. When i scuba diving, i burn around 2400. no way i can eat that back. I am nursing so if i burn 600 i better eat some of them or I'll lose my milk.

cutiekaylaa

Nope. I don't really see the point in eating them. If I worked so hard to burn those calories, why should I eat them right back?

4littlemonkeys

I try to only eat back half of them.

vaderandbill

There is a definite split on here about whether or not to eat them. I don't typically eat all of the exercise calories but I try to eat some to refuel my system.

ammiller32

it is good to help replenish the extra calories burned, but the whole point of exercising is to increase your caloric deficit to promote more weight loss, so i would recommend not eating all of them

TKelly06

I have to eat them back or I don't lose weight.

McKayMachina

:grumble:

I miss taso.

:laugh:

UrbanRunner81

Yes, I eat them back. I am starving if I don't. I have lost weight and kept it off.

brendacs21

Maybe this is a crazy train of thought, but i use ww and get points for working out and yes i eat them. i figure when i hit a plateau then i'll only eat some, and when i plateau again then i'll eat none! At this time im eating them and losing.....

jarrettd

Absolutely! If I don't, I start to feel run down and I lose strength and endurance quickly.

hbarney

I eat mine but not all of them. I work out almost everyday and on the days I burn 600-1000 calories I do eat some of them back.

hbarney

I eat mine but not all of them. I work out almost everyday and on the days I burn 600-1000 calories I do eat some of them back.

msjac23

I think you should eat some of them back, not all because you really don't know how accurate these machines are with calculating your actual calories burn. I wear the Body Bugg for counting calories, I notice the exercise machines says I burn a lot more calories than my Body Bugg says.

baisleac

Absolutely!

acciomuscles

Sometimes. Right now I'm zig-zagging my calories, so some days I eat a few or none back, and sometimes I eat all of them back. I don't really pay attention to the net calorie thing.

0PhAtDaDdY

I eat about half sometimes..

frugalmomsrock

I didn't for months, but now I do-to a degree. I eat about 1,800 to 2,000 calories a day (I'm on a 1250 diet). I exercise anywhere from 650 to 1100 calories a day right now (cut back from before).

I just got really hungry. I went months not eating them back, and all of a sudden, it just happened that I was too hungry NOT to!

R4z0r4Mm0

I cycle my calories over the week, eat less when I'm cross-training and more when I'm running. At the end of the week - my net calories are as is if I ate them all. But I definitely don't subscribe to YOU-MUST-EAT-ALL you exercise calories every day or you'll starve (LOL).

mark03264

Yes!

If you set up MFP right to start with then the daily calorie goal that MFP gives you already has a calorie deficit built in to lose weight. That said, you should eat close to the calorie goal MFP gives you each day including eating back most of your exercise calories. Depending on how far under the daily calorie goal you are, you are very likely to cause your body to hang onto the fat it has by either slowing down or even stopping fat loss. It may not happen right away but eventually you will most likely plateau. If you have a lot of weight to lose you can probably get away with it longer but as you have less to lose your body will plateau easier. May sound counter-intuitive but that's just the way it is.

For those that say they could never eat them back because of the amount they burn you could try this.
I generally have my meals and exercise for the day planned in the morning or the night before. This way I know approximately what my exercise calorie burn will be and I plan my meals for the day to "pre-eat" enough calories so that I can just eat a sensible supper and maybe a snack.

rileysowner

Since starting here I have, but that is because I use the calorie calculations of MFP. Before I used my own and figured in the expected exercise in the amount of calories I was to eat daily. Of course right now am eating maintenance calories as I took the summer off so I don't worry about it as much. Once I start into a calorie deficit again I will eat them for sure again.

mamashatzie

Since my activity level is set to sedentary, yes, I eat them. And also, because I want to use exercise to tone and not necessarily lose weight faster.

ShinyFraga

Yes!

If you set up MFP right to start with then the daily calorie goal that MFP gives you already has a calorie deficit built in to lose weight. That said, you should eat close to the calorie goal MFP gives you each day including eating back most of your exercise calories. Depending on how far under the daily calorie goal you are, you are very likely to cause your body to hang onto the fat it has by either slowing down or even stopping fat loss. It may not happen right away but eventually you will most likely plateau. If you have a lot of weight to lose you can probably get away with it longer but as you have less to lose your body will plateau easier. May sound counter-intuitive but that's just the way it is.

For those that say they could never eat them back because of the amount they burn you could try this.
I generally have my meals and exercise for the day planned in the morning or the night before. This way I know approximately what my exercise calorie burn will be and I plan my meals for the day to "pre-eat" enough calories so that I can just eat a sensible supper and maybe a snack.

^^^^ this!

edited to add: I am zig zagging my calories, and I eat within 10 +/- calories of my NET zig zag calorie goal. and the weight has been melting off.

Le_Joy

I was going to ask the same question! I don't usually eat mine but some days I do. My issue lately has been that some days I don't eat enough calories (even without extra from exercise ones) and with exercise I would have to eat a lot more. I am not into pre-planning my meals and exercise but I don't want to end up lots of calories behind after dinner because then I am tempted to eat something that will make up the 3-400 calorie deficit quickly which isn't ever anything healthy...

zorbaru

10 PRINT "do you eat excercise calories"
20 GOTO 10

RUN

jarrettd

10 PRINT "do you eat excercise calories"
20 GOTO 10

RUN

:laugh:

brocantrs

Usually.

Pebble321

Yes.

meerkat70

There is a definite split on here about whether or not to eat them. I don't typically eat all of the exercise calories but I try to eat some to refuel my system.

me too.

I'll revise this when I'm lighter. I know that my weight loss will likely stall as I get closer to goal, if I don't fuel my exercise enough.

SaddyPants

I eat some of them, but I am too scared to eat all of them because I don't know how accurate my calories burned are.